Team Tech Support
by glynrh19
Summary: After hearing about Kara's adventures on Earth One, Winn realises that he hasn't got anyone who understands what he does. Even Kara and James don't get it. After a little advice from Lena, Kara realises a visit from Cisco and Felicity wouldn't go amiss. Once they arrive, things start to go wrong. Looks like the world needs Team Tech Support again. Set post Invasion, so spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I: Lonely.

"So, what're they like?" An excitable Winn asked Kara. She raised an eyebrow with a smirk at her best friend.

"What are who like?" She asked, struggling not to laugh. He was leaning so far across the matt black desk that she was half worried that he was going to fall off. Not that she'd let that happen, super speed came in handy for excitable fanboys.

"The techies! On Earth One. What are they like?" He asked insistently. Kara was momentarily taken aback, she had only just realised that she hadn't even _mentioned_ Felicity and Cisco. How he knew that Barry had tech support she didn't know.

"I didn't even mention tech support. How did you know?" She asked him, smile evident both in her eyes and her voice.

"Please. There is no way that _Barry Allen_ created that awesome suit! He's a genius and all, but that takes a whole different kind of smarts." The unspoken _"my kind of smarts"_ hung in the air until Kara felt duty bound to feed his ego. He beamed at her.

"Seriously though, are they as cool as me and the DEO?" He asked, more seriously this time and Kara detected a hint of insecurity in his voice and his mannerisms.

"They're awesome, Felicity works with the Arrow and Cisco with Barry. She's some kind of genius hacker and Cisco is primarily a scientist. So no, they're not as awesome as you Winn, you happen to be both." He beamed at her. "You'd like them, Cisco especially, he's got your affinity for films and puns." Kara was smiling too now, imagining the two nerds interaction.

Throughout the day, Winn kept on bombarding her with questions to the point where Kara decided that she needed to patrol the city just to give herself a small brain break. As the twinkling lights of National City drifted bellow her Kara wondered about the _why_. She had expected him to be curious about her time in Barry's universe, and he very much had been, asking questions about the Arrow gang, the Legends and Flash's own team. Today was different, he was fixated on the people behind the keyboards, like himself she guessed. Perhaps he needed an ego boost? She discounted this as a possibility quickly, whilst Winn did occasionally need assuring that he was a valuable member of Team Supergirl today clearly went beyond that. As she circled L-Corp tower it came to her. Like Lena, Winn was lonely. It wasn't that he didn't have friends, the two of them were thick as thieves and he was well liked by Alex and even J'onn (which as Kara knew personally was no mean feat), but there wasn't anyone he could talk to about his projects and his love of computers. Initially he and Vasquez could be found hunched over a table, or a computer but it seemed he had far outstripped her ability.

She lowered herself onto Lena's balcony, if there was anyone who would understand and be able to help it was her. Besides, they hadn't talked since the Medusa incident and Kara didn't want her friend to think that she was angry. Lena didn't even turn around when she noticed Supergirl coming through the French windows.

"Hi Supergirl, come to arrest me I suppose." Her voice was weak, as if she'd been crying. Supergirl didn't know how to take it, Lena had always been so in command of her emotions.

"No! Lena, why would you think that, you saved my life!" She said, amazed, sure she had felt furious and hurt when it appeared that the youngest Luthor had betrayed her, but after seeing the damage that holding grudges could cause first hand (curtesy of Cisco and Barry) she had moved on.

"I lied to you Supergirl, you trusted me and I threw it back in your face. I should have trusted you, I'm sorry." She paused, voice cracking slightly. "You're the only person who has believed in me, except maybe Kara, since I've come to National City and I betrayed your trust. Can you forgive me?" Kara was heartbroken and her Supergirl façade shattered as she walked over to the CEO and wrapped her into a hug, letting the dark-haired woman sob into her cape.

"Shush, its ok. Of course, I forgive you Lena. I understand why you had to act in the way you did, and your mother would have got her hands on the compound she needed if you hadn't bluffed your way into her trust. You saved the life of my friends. Not to mention the fact that you're my friend too Lena, I'm not giving up on you. Promise." She felt the other woman nod almost imperceptibly on her shoulder and took a deep breath.

"Thank you." She coughed. "Is there anything I can help you with now that you're here?" She asked in a stronger voice now, the normal Lena coming back through.

"I have a friend."

"Really? Never would've expected that." Lena smiled and Supergirl beamed back.

"He's, how do I put it, like my eyes and ears when I'm in the field and he's really lonely because no one understands his work, and very few people care enough to even try. I went over to a parallel world yesterday, well, yesterday for you, to help out the Flash." At some point the pair had settled themselves on the sofa and were looking out across the city as the sun set.

"The guy with superspeed who vanished after two or three days?" She asked, nothing slipped past Lena.

"Yeah, him and some of his friends were having trouble with an alien invasion, and he knew that I got enough of them so asked for a hand. While I was there I met two people who were like W… my friend and he hasn't stopped asking me all about them all day, he seems really down." She finished. There was a pause as Lena thought for a moment, then her face lit up.

"Winn, it's Winn, isn't it? Your friend. The genius who nobody quite gets." She asked, already knowing the answer.

"What? Nooo, honestly Lena, what gave you that idea? … Fine, yes, its Winn. How'd you know?" She asked, remembering that she couldn't afford to get flustered as Supergirl, in case Lena drew the dots to the constantly floundering Kara Danvers. Lena gave a friendly smirk.

"He's the only person in the city besides myself with a high enough IQ and social skills to feel that way. Obvious really, to me anyway." She said, with a kind of confidence that some would have thought bordered on arrogance, but Kara knew differently.

"Is there anything I can do to cheer him up?" Kara asked, hopeful. Lena stared at the street lights as they flicked on to bring light to the darkening evening.

"How did the Flash contact you to ask for your help?" Lena asked. "If I'm allowed to know." She added quickly, not wanting to overstep her bounds.

"No, no, it's fine. He has a friend, one of the techs, Cisco who has the power to open portals to other universes. He left me a device to contact them if I needed there help or vice versa." Kara recounted.

"Well isn't it obvious?" When no answer from Supergirl was forthcoming Lena continued. "Introduce Winn to these people, invite them over on the pretext of a case you can't crack. Maybe hacking the Cadmus files, even Winn can't do that, I've been watching him try. Then he can meet people he can relate to, it'll be good for them too. He genuinely is one of the brightest people I've ever met." Lena was right, it was obvious. Kara was kicking herself that she hadn't thought of it herself, it was perfect, and if Felicity could help Winn hack Cadmus then it would be two birds with one stone.

"Thank you Lena, I really appreciate your help. So will Winn." She said genuinely.

"Anything for National City's hero Supergirl." Lena smiled. "Now go, help your techie." Kara laughed and launched herself from Lena's balcony, flying outside of the city limits. She used her X-ray vision to find a suitable spot and landed on an abandoned runway, the old tarmac cracking slightly under her slightly overdramatic landing. Reaching into her ear she sent a message to the DEO to tell them that she was going to be out of contact for a couple of hours and once she had received confirmation from Vasquez, Kara turned off her earpiece, she wanted this to be a surprise for Winn.

Reaching into a hidden pocket in her uniform, she pulled out the strange blue disc that Cisco had presented her with and pushed the central button.

"Uh, hey guys, its Kara. I was wondering if you could give me a hand with something." She asked, slightly awkwardly.

"Kara! Are you alright?! I can have Barry hear in 10 seconds, he's in Africa at the moment." Asked Cisco through the line, worry evident in his voice.

"No need, I was actually calling for you, well, you and Felicity. There's a database I need your help with, and a friend who I'd like you to meet… if you're free. Which you're probably not. Which is fine. Sorry." She gushed, feeling suddenly very nervous for no apparent reason.

"Whoa Kar, we're always free for you. Well, I am, and I'm sure Felicity is as well. I'll have to check." There was some static as Cisco changed the channel on his headset. A moment later Felicity's voice came through the device.

"Hey Kara, I'm free. I do love hacking unhackable databases, and any friend of yours is a friend of ours. We can be there in an hour if you want?"

"That'd be great, thanks guys. It means a lot." Kara replied before hanging up.

After an hour and ten minutes of carving Kryptonian symbols on a piece of rock because she was bored, the familiar blue whirlwind created by Cisco's Vibing appeared in front of her and the pair stepped out. Felicity wrapped Kara in a hug and Cisco gave her a high five. As she flew them back to base Kara explained both the situation about Cadmus and her worry about Winn and was not surprised to find that both were sympathetic, having been there themselves. She landed gracefully in front of the glass doors of the DEO, and after talking the guards (and a rather irate J'onn and Alex, both of whom were delighted to meet Cisco and Felicity, whilst telling Kara in no uncertain terms that she was to tell them next time she put out an interdimensional distress call) down, they walked towards the computer block.

"Hey Supergirl, hi random people I don't know." Called Winn in a friendly manner. Kara laughed.

"Winn, I'd like you to meet Felicity Smoak and Cisco Ramone. From Earth One."

"Oh. My. God." His draw dropped.

 **A/N: Hi Guys. I know I haven't posted in literally years. I'm not going to finish my first fic, I've lost my notes. Sorry if that disappoints any of you. But! I plan on making this a multi-chapter fic if there's any interest in it and if I can find the time around the boring, essential stuff in my life (hence the ending that allows for this to be a one-shot without TOOOOO much embarrassment). I'd love to hear any feedback and constructive criticism (or nice things, I like nice things) about this. Thanks to anyone who's actually bothered to read this. Oh, I don't own Supergirl, Flash, Arrow or Legends of Tomorrow. Sadly.**


	2. Chapter II: Misunderstood

Chapter II: Misunderstood

 **A/N: Thank you all for all your lovely feedback! I've decided to extend this into a multi-chapter, but I'm ad-libing it at the moment, so updates may be a bit hit and miss. I'm going to aim for weekly mind.**

 **Warnings for this Chapter: Implied violence and non-graphic injuries.**

"Oh. My. God." Said Winn, in shock, "I know you. Well, your voice." He indicated to Felicity.

"How?" Asked Cisco, remembering that Barry had looked them up for help getting home. Winn paused, then his face lit up. Fingers flying across the keyboard, he pulled up Barry's search history on there Earth.

"There! Barry looked for you Cisco, a Dr. Caitlyn Snow, a Dr. Harrison Wells and an Oliver Queen. He forgot Felicity! She _could_ have a doppelganger in our world." We shouted in triumph, they all shared interested looks. Where was he going with this?

"I am going to have words with Barry when we get back..." Muttered Felicity darkly, clearly taking the fact that he overlooked her somewhat personally. Understandably, Winn thought.

"Where are you going with this Winn?" Asked Kara, completely lost.

"Oracle" He said simply and she gasped. Winn felt rather pleased with himself. The second that Felicity had introduced herself he had recognized the voice of the super-hacker known as Oracle, who had often helped himself and Kara get information quickly.

"Wait, we have an Oracle in our universe as well. Except she's a wheelchair bound redhead." Felicity said, beginning to connect the dots.

"So did we, Oracle appeared just as our worlds Batgirl disappeared." Winn explained, but was cut off by Cisco.

"Wait, Batgirl?" He asked, confused.

"Do you guys not have a Batman?" Asked Kara, somewhat incredulously. She was certain that Bruce was universally grumpy and vengeance obsessed in all universes. Although, when she thought about it, he would have got himself involved in a Dominator attack...

"Nope, but I think I've seen him in a vibe. Tall, creepy, big black cape?" Cisco asked.

"Yep, that's him. Now, Batgirl was his protégé until she disappeared, I think she was paralyzed because when Oracle appeared, not long after Batgirl vanished, she occasionally moaned about a _"Damn chair"._ There's more, when Batgirl reappeared Oracle _changed,_ her voice changed, her mannerisms, everything. I'm pretty sure Batgirl's a redhead, so that makes a lot of sense." Winn excitedly explained. The others nodded, and he felt a flush of pride. Now that he had made sense of that he began to wonder why Kara had bought them to his Earth.

"Is everything ok with you guys?" He asked, back in full work mode.

"Yeah, I assumed you knew Kara asked us here to help break the Cadmus database encryption." Said Felicity, somewhat confused. Anger and hurt knotted in Winn's gut. Kara didn't think he could do it, so she went over his head and asked her new friends. He had to admit, that hurt. A lot. Realising that he was going to get emotional he removed himself from the room.

"Oh, yeah, course. Uh... I have to go, I have this... thing, yeah, I have a thing." He said, rushed and the two newcomers smiled at him as he left, but Kara clearly knew that something was wrong. He rushed out of the building, hoping that J'onn had forced her to stay with them at all times.

"Winn?" Damn, it was Kara. "What's the matter?" She asked, concern in her eyes. Winn was too angry to care.

"Uh I don't know? You went over my head and asked your new friends for help because you don't believe in me. At least tell me next time Kara." He bit back sarcastically.

"Winn..."

"NO! Leave me alone ok? I need some time to brood, go keep the wonder kids happy." Kara looked for a moment like she wanted to go after him, but her head dropped and she turned back towards the labs. Winn's eyes filled with tears. He hated being emotional, but sometimes he wondered why the DEO bothered to keep him around. He couldn't hack Cadmus, he couldn't hack Myriad. The only times it really mattered and he failed. That wasn't it though, Kara had been spending less and less time with him. First it was James, then Mon-El, now Lena Luthor. He liked all three, hell, him and James made up Team Guardian now, he didn't have a problem with any of them. He just missed his best friend. Only friend, the bitter and hurt part of his subconscious offered up and for once he didn't ignore it. He walked quickly down the street towards the centre of town without any clear goal, not paying any attention to his surroundings.

"Ouch!" Came a female voice from the floor. Shit. He'd knocked someone over.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, are you ok? I wasn't watching where I was going..." His voice trailed off as he noticed who he'd knocked onto the ground. Lena Luthor.

"Oh… uh… hi Lena." He said awkwardly, helping her to her feet and picking up her paperwork. "I'm really sorry about that, I'm just distracted."

"Not to worry Winn. We all do it. What's got you into this mood?" She asked kindly, falling into step with him. Winn paused, considering whether to ask for her advice, Kara trusted her. That's good enough for me, he decided with a rapidity which surprised him.

"Have you ever felt like your best friend doesn't have any faith in you?" He asked her quietly. She looked at him in confusion, her suggestion to Supergirl was supposed to cheer him up. She sure as hell didn't want to upset him even more.

"I have, but I've often found that I am simply misinterpreting what they're saying. Take the incident with Supergirl and my mother." She said, desperately trying to work out what Supergirl had said that'd upset him so much.

"You know that I work with Supergirl right?" Winn asked, pretty certain he already knew the answer.

"Of course I do Winn. I'm not an idiot." Lena chuckled. She was late for a meeting, but if Bruce Wayne can miss whole weeks worth then Lena Luthor could afford to be a little late once every now and again, she genuinely wanted to help the Hobbit as Cat Grant affectionately (she thought) called him. Winn smiled warmly, he had liked Lena before (and really shipped her and Kara together) but now he was seeing the caring side first hand.

"She called in her new friends from… elsewhere… to hack the Cadmus servers because I couldn't, and to top it off she didn't tell me. I know at least two people who could do this for me, but I need to prove to everyone that I can do the important things. I guess it just hurts that she doesn't believe in me any more." He sighed angrily and refused to look Lena in the eye, who was staring at him intently.

"She does believe in you." She said quietly, then took a deep breath. "In fact, she came to me last night to ask for advice about you."

"How to get rid of me without hurting my feelings I guess." He said quietly, hoping she didn't hear him. She did.

"Winslow Schott Jr! That girl cares about you as much as you care about her, which I'm sensing, whilst platonically, is an awful lot. She asked me how to cheer you up, because she noticed you were lonely and was really worried about you. That was completely thoughtless of her to spring that on you, and she and I will have words about that I assure you, but you are acting completely unfairly." She snapped, not unpleasantly. She added quickly. "I know you're upset Winn, that's how I felt earlier this week. I understand. She does believe in you, I promise." Winn was struck. Kara cared enough that she'd gone to Lena for advice about how to help him. It was just her putting her foot in her mouth, as usual. His face split into a massive smile and opened his arms to offer Lena a hug, not wanting to force anything on her. He knew that she was a bit uncomfortable around new people. She laughed and pulled him into her arms.

"Thank you, Lena. I needed to hear that." He said softly over her shoulder.

"Anything for a friend." She smiled and he felt a warm glow in his chest. They were friends. Then,

"Shit! Cisco and Felicity. I told them I needed to do a thing, I was probably really rude." He gasped. Lena laughed again.

"Go, run back to your top secret HQ and show them who's the best techie in National City." It was his turn to laugh, and he ran back to base. Everyone turned and gave him weird looks as he came through the door. J'onn took him aside.

"Mr. Schott, are you alright? Your one of my agents now and your wellbeing is my concern." He said deadpan, but Winn saw it for what it was. He cared as well. After assuring the Martian that he was absolutely fine Winn walked to the lab and took a deep breath.

"Hey guys, sorry about that." He apologised.

"Not to worry, we were just setting up. How was the thing." Cisco asked, smiling. Winn laughed and assured him that the thing was fine.

"So, Winn, could you log us all into the DEO system?" Asked Felicity, pulling up an extra laptop and chair. He sat down and his fingers flashed across the keyboard as he granted her and Cisco full access to the system.

"We're in." Almost immediately Cisco started humming the Mission Impossible theme tune which had Kara and Felicity rolling their eyes, but Winn joining in. After around five minutes, when the two scientists had stopped pretending to be secret agents (and Kara had commented that it was ironic because Winn actually _was_ a secret agent) they all sat down at the computers again. Whilst typing the three of them chatted about pop-culture on different earths.

"Hey, Harry was right." Cisco said to Felicity. "They _do_ have the Godfather on every earth." Winn had no idea who Harry was, but found himself chuckling anyway. He had found kindred spirits in Earth One's tech support and all was going well. They had got deeper into Cadmus than Winn or Lena had got before when it all started to go horribly wrong.

Thunk.

The power cut. The computers turned off. All hell broke loose.

Winn, Felicity and Cisco hit the deck, whilst Kara, J'onn, Mon-El and Alex leapt into action with the unknown assailants. Kara cried out in pain and grabbed the three of them. Next thing they knew, they were quite some distance from the DEO.

"Damn it Kara!" Winn shouted. "You need to stop doing this!"

"Uhh, what just happened?" Felicity asked, looking around.

"Kara just supersped us out of danger, didn't she?" Asked Cisco, who was well used to this with Barry, it infuriated him as well. Winn took off in a blind run towards the DEO, Cisco ran after him. Felicity shouted after them.

"Guys! What we need to get help, we're not going to do Supergirl any good if we run in and get ourselves killed." They kept running and she sprinted after them muttering under her breath about unthinking idiots. Half an hour of sprinting through National City and they came to the smoking ruins of the DEO. The glass doors were shattered and unconscious agents littered the floor. It was carnage. Winn's eyes widened in shock and he sprinted over to a desk with a slumped brunette leaning over it.

"Vasquez! Are you ok? What happened?" He asked as he helped her to her feet, she had a nasty bruise on her head, and her hair was matted with still damp crimson blood. She stood on shaky legs, and turned to be sick. Winn held her hair out of the way as she coughed up blood. After a few seconds, she answered.

"Cadmus. It must have been. High energy laser weapons. Something with Kryptonite. They've taken Supergirl and J'onn. I didn't see anything of Alex and Mon-El." She said, swaying. Cisco caught her as she fell and the three of them helped her and the other agents that had major injuries to the med bay, which thankfully had remained largely intact, and the DEO doctors uninjured. Once they'd finished helping as many people as they could Winn sat down heavily. The adrenaline running out. Kara had been captured by Cadmus. Again, and he hadn't been able to do anything to stop it. He felt helpless, knowing that Cisco and Felicity would look to him to lead he wasn't ready. Now that they had confirmed that Alex and Mon-El had been taken as well there was nobody to palm the responsibility off on either. Except maybe…

"Lena. I need your help. It's Supergirl, she's been taken by Cadmus along with Martian Manhunter and two other members of our team. The DEO is basically out of commission so it's down to you, myself, Cisco and Felicity. I might be able to get the Guardian on side as well, but we can't do this without you Lena." Begged Winn desperately down the phone.

"Shit! I thought putting my mother in jail we'd cut the head off that snake for a while!" Winn could tell Lena was hyperventilating, but as he wasn't much better he couldn't be of much use to her. "Right. Get your team in the L-Corp HQ as soon as you can, if you have any non-lethal weapons that we can use without too much difficulty then bring them with you." She ordered, after taking a moment. Winn agreed and hung up. After calling James and telling him to suit up and get to L-Corp he explained the plan to Felicity and Cisco. He wasn't surprised they were immediately on board.

"Looks like Team Tech Support rides again." Said Cisco with a smirk, lightening the mood. Winn dropped a heavy box on the table and pulled out pistols. Which looked suspiciously like phasers from Star Trek.

"Oh, my god, you made actual phasers. Marry me." Cisco breathed as he admired the weapons. Winn blushed. He was kind of attractive, but this wasn't the time to unpick that little factoid. Felicity laughed and they each pulled a few weapons out of the crate and put them into backpacks.

"Lena's going to love this, it's Attack of the Nerds coming to her building!" Cisco laughed on the way over.

"Really? We're not prequel material, pure orig trig dude!" Winn bantered back with a forced laugh, he was thankful for his new friend's attempt to lighten the tone, but Kara was in trouble.

Lena was already downstairs waiting for them in what was essentially state of the art combat gear. Felicity raised an eyebrow.

"What? I get assassination attempts almost every other day in this city, I need gear like this. Anyway, who are you?" She snapped, nerves fraying. Winn jumped in.

"Lena Luthor, meet Felicity Smoak and Cisco Ramone. Cisco, Felicity, this is Lena." They all nodded pleasantly when Guardian ran in.

"Right, what's our plan guys?"

 **A/N (2): Hello again! I'm not sure if I got Felicity or Cisco right in this chapter. I'm WAYYY behind on Arrow (just finished S3) and a tad behind on Flash (finished S2) so this fic is going to be cannon compliant until those dates, and things that were explicitly mentioned in the crossover event, with the exception of Flashpoint because my knowledge of that comes entirely from the comics which are apparently completely different. I have also decided to make some of the Justice League canon in the Supergirl universe (hence the reference to Batgirl and Oracle) but I haven't decided if we'll actually meet them in this story yet. As always, please review, it makes my day. Constructive criticism is welcome as before. Thanks.**


	3. Chapter III: To Battle

Chapter III: To Battle.

Lena Luthor stared at the rag-tag rescue team that the hobbit had assembled. Not much to look at, she mused, then again she didn't look like she'd be useful in a fight. Hopefully underestimating Cisco and Felicity would be a similar mistake. Somehow, she doubted it. Whilst Winn had explained that Cisco was a metahuman who had (admittedly temperamental) combat powers, Lena realised he had actually been in battle no more than two or three times. Felicity was even worse. Whilst it was clear that she was used to being in high stress and danger situations she had only really been in one fight in her entire life. Admittedly she and Cisco had defeated ten government agents, armed only with a pair of futuristic stun guns and zero training, but this was infinitely more dangerous. This was Cadmus, and they had just beaten Supergirl, a Daxamite (yes, of course she knew that 'Mike' wasn't who he claimed to be), a Martian and Agent Scully (another of Cat's nicknames that Lena found fitted rather well). In short, Lillian's force was much more dangerous than some 70's suits.

"Winn, what're you thinking?!" Muttered Guardian, agitated, to the tech genius when he thought the others were out of earshot, Lena didn't know about Felicity and Cisco, but she certainly wasn't. He really _was_ new to this Superhero business…

"Lena's a loose cannon," she raised an eyebrow but decided to stay quiet, "and Vibe and Felicity are unknown quantities. Why haven't you called in our friends in Gotham instead?" He asked, not quite angrily, but there was something about his tone that Lena didn't like.

"Because, by the time that Batman, or whichever of his brood you have connections with, arrive chances are they'll already be dead. As for being a loose cannon, you're right, you can't control me and you haven't the first clue what I can do, same goes for Felicity and Cisco, we are _all_ unknown quantities for Cadmus, they won't be expecting a counter attack after they crippled the DEO in their attack, we hold the advantage." She said, striding closer to the armoured man, who to his credit didn't flinch.

"Why don't we calm this down?" Started Winn, a panicked look on his face. Clearly, he was expecting them all to jump on white horses and ride in to save the day. From her time in the boardroom Lena was not quite so naive to believe that they would become a team within a matter of minutes. There were clearly relationships within the team, Winn and Guardian obviously worked closely together, Cisco and Felicity were well versed with each other's mannerisms and seemed to work well together, hell, even Lena and Winn had built the trap to stop the thugs with alien weaponry at the L-Corp event. In short, there was potential here, but it wasn't going to be easy.

Lena watched as Guardian took a breath.

"Right, sorry Winn. What's our plan?" He asked, looking towards the shorter man for the answer, panicking him even more, apparently, he hoped by inviting Lena along he would be spared the burden of command. He was wrong. Winn was clearly the common denominator between all of them, Cisco and Felicity respected him, Guardian relied upon him and Lena trusted him. They didn't all feel that way about the others.

"Um… I… Haven't _really_ got past assembling a team yet…" He admitted, abashed. Cisco struggled not to chuckle, it reminded him an awful lot of the way in which Barry had acted after calling together the heroes of Earth One, and Supergirl, to defeat the Dominators. Unfortunately for Winn, he didn't have a Green Arrow to pull him out of the fire. There was an awkward silence for a moment until Lena stepped in.

"Do we know where we're going? That always helps when deciding on a strategy." She offered, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Winn didn't need that right now.

"Oh! The three of us," Felicity indicated herself, Winn and Cisco, "can run a scan for Kryptonite or possibly even Martian DNA within National City."

"I can try to get in contact with Maggie and the NCPD, see if they've got anything?" Added Guardian.

"I'll talk to some of my brother's old contacts online posing as my mother, news of her arrest hasn't spread yet and they owe her favours." Lena supplied, Winn looked relieved at his friends' help.

"Right, sounds like a plan, let's get too it."

Lena left the three nerds to it and went upstairs to her office and opened a secure chat with Lex's Kryptonite supplier.

[Lillian Luthor logged on]

[Bialya Agent logged on]

 **Lillian Luthor: Can you confirm that you sent the shipment to the right location? It hasn't arrived and I'm running out of patience.**

 **Bialya Agent: Who are you, and what are you doing on this line?**

 **Lillian Luthor: Who are you to ask that of me?! I can have you replaced in an hour. Answer my question.**

 **Bialya: Sorry ma'am. Just wanted to be certain, I've heard your daughter has been snooping around lately…**

Lena allowed herself a smile. She may have hated the woman, but she knew her mother's reaction to being challenged.

 **Lillian Luthor: Of course, now, kindly confirm that shipment and the exact address you sent it too.**

 **Bialya: Yes ma'am, I sent two squads of soldiers with 3kg of Kryptonite to Bunker IV in National City. I don't know why they haven't arrived yet, I ordered them to avoid Gotham en-route, so I doubt they've been intercepted.**

 **Lillian Luthor: Thank you, I will contact you again if they haven't arrived tomorrow.**

[Lillian Luthor logged out]

[Bialya Agent logged out]

That was interesting. Lillian had no less than four bunkers in National City, at least three kilograms of Kryptonite, and she was getting it from Bialya. The real question now was if Queen Bee knew about this. First, realised Lena, she had to pass on this information to Winn and the others.

Unsurprisingly the news was greeted with worry, and a great deal of confusion.

"Bialya?! As in Queen Bee and Black Adam?! How the hell did they get Kryptonite?!" Guardian reeled back, shocked. Felicity and Cisco looked equally lost.

"Bialya?" She asked, looking lost. Great, they didn't have a Bialya, lucky them.

"That'll take far too long to explain now, all you need to know is that it's led by an actual evil queen, with mind powers, and a magically-powered metahuman with the strength to stand toe to toe with Superman and come out with a draw." Explained Winn, ignoring Cisco's wide eyes, he'd seen the lack of effect, well just about anything, had on Supergirl.

"Anything on Bunker IV yet Lena?" He asked, Lena explained that she had had no such luck yet. Winn looked disappointed but said nothing and pulled out his mobile.

"Guardian. Hey, anything with Maggie? Damn, keep looking and asking around please. Thanks mate." He hung up, looking even more disgruntled.

"Hey! Winn! We've got a hit on the Kryptonite, about the right amount too. It's… about two blocks North of the DEO." Called Cisco across from over the top of a computer as he held his hand for Felicity to high five him, without even glancing in her direction. Lena had to chuckle, three of a kind.

Throughout the mission, Lena had noticed that Winn had been very careful only to mention the Kryptonian as Supergirl, clearly, he hadn't realised that Lena had joined the dots a few weeks previous. Apparently, Scully and the Jolly Green Giant hadn't mentioned that she knew to anyone after all.

 _Kara Danvers left Lena's office, somewhat flustered, after Snapper sent her to build her relationship with a 'valuable source' and hopefully 'get something somewhat useful out of it'. They had ended up just chatting about what it was like to live in someone's shadow, Lena in the Luthor name, and Kara in her sister's. Supposedly. Something didn't quite add up about that particular story, but Kara clearly knew how it felt to try to make a name for herself away from someone else, but Alex was in such a different field to her sister that it didn't make sense. She didn't press it mind, she liked Kara a lot. She always saw the best in people, she was kind and funny. Lena actually_ liked _spending time with Kara, she wasn't going to put the girl in an awkward situation._

 _There was a loud knock on the French windows. Supergirl._

" _Hello Supergirl, what can I do for you?" She asked, in her smoothest voice, she didn't know what it was about the hero that Lena found so attractive. Maybe it was the fact that she saw the best in people, or the fact that she inspired hope. Or maybe it was the arms. They certainly didn't hurt._

" _I need your advice Lena, and I don't know who else to ask." The youngest Luthor was somewhat intrigued, and promised that she would do the best that she could to give her worldly wisdom. Supergirl blushed a deep shade of crimson and Lena smiled widely._

" _Ever since Superman helped me with Metallo people have lost faith in me. They don't think I can handle the new threats that Cadmus is bringing forward, and that I have to hide behind my cousin every time something goes wrong." She practically sobbed, her arms doing the cute flapping thing, that. now she thought about it was very familiar. Lena thought quietly about her situation for a moment, it sounded a lot like the conversation that herself and Kara had a few minutes before hand. Wait. That was it, that's where she knew the hand thing! Kara Danvers. She even blushed the same shade of red, and Supergirl was only a little taller than the reporter, possibly if she stood a little straighter, and lost the glasses…_

 _That was it! Kara Danvers was Supergirl. Lena fought her impulse to reveal that she knew to the young hero, but decided against it. She'd wait until Kara trusted her enough to tell her the truth herself, and as it turned out her two friends in National City were actually the same person it became much more important to give good advice._

" _I think, the way to solve this would be to go to Metropolis and step on_ his _toes for once, show that it's give and take and that he needs your help every now and again." Supergirl, Kara, stood quietly for a second before nodding._

" _Thank you, Lena, I appreciate it." She nodded regally, before leaping into the sky._

 _Not two hours later Alex Danvers and the 6ft 8' Martian (whom she immediately dubbed the Jolly Green Giant, which took away the fear factor slightly) arrived on the very same balcony. Apparently Supergirl had told them where she had got her advice and the two had been smart enough to realise that Lena was almost as good detective as their friends in Gotham._

" _Miss Luthor, if you ever reveal her secret, I will personally see to it that you will never see the light of day again." Threatened the Martian in a low, deep, cold voice. Lena laughed._

" _Firstly, you don't frighten me Mr. J'onzz, actually, Agent Danvers is far more likely to try to take me down than you. Secondly, I have no intention of telling anyone I know Kara's secret, not even Kara. I truly believe in what she does for this city and is my friend, both as Supergirl and as Kara Danvers. If you think I would put my friend in danger then you are much mistaken." Lena's voice was also low and dangerous, a fury evident behind it. She couldn't tell why exactly, but on further examination it was probably because they must have been able to tell just how important Kara was to her, and they still believed that she would hurt the girl. All because she was a Luthor._

" _If she doesn't already know, don't tell Kara I've worked this out, I don't want things to change between us." She asked on a whim and the Martian nodded almost imperceivably._

 _The pair left with a few more veiled threats, but the venom was gone from their postures, leaving Lena somewhat amused._

Lena jolted back to the present with a start. Kara was captured. Again.

"So, what are we going to do about Cadmus?" Lena asked Cisco and Felicity as Winn recalled Guardian from the NCPD. "Can you hack the building and cause a bit of chaos to get us in?" She suggested, Felicity and Cisco looked at one another.

"We've got a program lined up that will turn off all the lighting, rewire the alarms and if we're lucky, disable any security measures." Felicity explained, Winn raised his eyebrows, impressed and nodded.

"We've got my phasers-"

"Winn, we are _not_ calling them phasers, I may be a nerd, but even I refuse to rescue Supergirl pretending to be Captain Kirk." Snapped Lena sternly. Winn and Cisco looked crestfallen and Felicity smiled at the taller woman gratefully.

"Huh, I had you pegged as a next-gen kinda girl," Lena sighed, "but anyway. We have… the stun guns, Guardian's suit is high tech enough to stop most kinds of ammunition that Cadmus can throw at us and Cisco, if you can get your powers working you'll be one hell of an asset." Winn finished. Cisco nodded determinedly and made a few adjustments to his goggles nervously as Lena and Guardian poured over maps of the facility that Felicity had pulled up. Winn and Felicity added the finishing touches to their computer virus. They were almost ready.

Cadmus wouldn't know what hit them.

 **A/N: Hi guys! Sorry about the last chapter, I'm not hugely happy with it, don't really know what happened… This one is shaping up slightly better but still feels a little confused. The good news however is that I am beginning to see this story shaping up a little (Huzzah!) and will probably be finished by the end of January. I'm planning to build on this world, and bring the Batman crowd into National City in a different story following this one. As always, thanks for your support and please follow, favourite and review. Constructive criticism accepted, as well as any story ideas or complaints about how badly I've portrayed the characters (I'm really not happy with Cisco and Felicity at this point)**

 **Thanks guys.**


	4. Chapter IV: This is not good

Chapter IV: 'Well, this isn't good'

 **Warnings: Mild language, and injury.**

From over to his left came a moan of pain. It was a female's voice, too high to be Alex's. It had to be Kara, which was unusual as she hardly felt pain. Then again, neither did J'onn and he ached all over. Opening his eyes slowly so as to combat the glare the Green Martian tried to sit up but found that he was restrained. This didn't worry him as he could escape as soon as he had recovered enough to use his powers. Interestingly to J'onn he was in his true form, which meant that whatever they had done to him between the fight at the DEO and now had used up nearly all of his mental energy, presumably he'd used it trying to escape, but slightly worryingly he realised that he couldn't actually remember.

He turned his head to try to get a better picture of the room, himself, Supergirl (he had to think of her as Supergirl now, it was possible that if he was this exhausted, his thoughts could leak into the minds of those nearby), Alex and Mon-El were bound to sturdy steel medical tables. Worryingly Kara and Mon-El were bound with some kind of alloy that clearly contained Kryptonite, and presumably Nth Metal, the only two substances that could hold them, and weaken them enough to stop their escape, it appeared that the restraints that held Alex were less heavy duty, standard leather and metal straps. Not for the first time, J'onn wondered why Cadmus had taken the agent. She was the only one of the four who was human, and she wasn't enhanced in any way. It seemed unlikely to J'onn that Cadmus had deduced Supergirl's true identity and connected the dots, as if that were the case then he was almost certain that they would have taken the time to capture James Olsen and Winn Schott as additional hostages. So, the agents presence was a mystery.

There was another groan as Supergirl came to.

"Supergirl, are you alright?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.

"I... I think so... The Kryptonite is weakening me, but I don't feel ill." Interesting. The Kryptonite must be of a relatively low yield, suggesting that with the arrest of Lillian Luthor, Cadmus' resources were beginning to dry up, or that they weren't back to full operational strength. However, that seemed unlikely, they wouldn't have launched an attack of this audacity unless they were absolutely certain that they could pull it off. Then there was the Justice League. Cadmus must have distracted them in some way, hence the fact that Batman and his team hadn't arrived yet. It would only take them a few hours to find this place, no matter how much lead they built this place of, nothing could keep Oracle from finding Kryptonite. J'onn knew. He'd tried.

"J'onn," Supergirl's voice dropped to a low whisper, "can't you phase out of these restraints?" The Martian mentally kicked himself. He had given himself enough time to recover and with everything going on in his head he had completely missed that idea. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to make his body intangible.

"ARGHH!" He cried out as the metal sent thousands of volts of electricity through his body.

"J'ONN!" He barely registered Alex's voice through his agony. Then, the world went black.

He awoke to see a masked man standing in the room with them. He was tall, about 6ft 3" and sturdy. The mask was simple and covered his entire head. Clearly armoured, as his head was still woozy J'onn couldn't make out any of the features, or even if it was coloured. As soon as he realised the Martian had come to he spoke, his voice was low but smooth, like silk.

"I wouldn't advise trying to escape again Martian." He spat the word Martian with such distaste that J'onn's eyes glowed a burning red. To J'onn's grudging respect the masked man didn't even flinch. Although, with the mask on, he could look terrified. Sadly, he doubted it very much.

"What do you want with us?" Alex's voice. She wasn't intimidated, or at least was doing a good job at keeping it hidden, J'onn felt a surge of pride.

"Well, first we're going to experiment on the Daxamite over there, then the Kryptonian, then the Martian. You're our control subject." The man said, with a smug, self-satisfied nod of his head toward Alex. Interesting, thought J'onn, they could have chosen any agent, hell, literally anyone on the planet, why the one that could cause them the most trouble (outside of some of Gotham's citizens perhaps)?

Alex caught his eye and raised it at his forehead. Telepathy. Maybe, J'onn had considered it, but didn't want to risk the shock again. Seeing no alternative however, he reached out with his mind. He didn't feel any pain, and his mental probe wasn't blocked, he could feel Mon-El, Supergirl and Alex. Confident now, he reached out further, gritting his teeth against the migraine he could feel building behind his right eye, but he discovered nothing. The man's mind simply didn't register, he could feel absolutely nothing from his part of the room. Deepening the probe J'onn could tell that it wasn't his weakness causing this (he did find it easier to find familiar minds) as he could sense the cat hiding under the operating table. Maybe he was a hologram? Realising that, even if he couldn't communicate with the man with the mask, he could still talk to his allies. Well. Alex, Mon-El and Supergirl were immune to his telepathy, a fact that he was cursing at this point.

 _Alex, I can't find his mind._ Short, to the point.

 _What?! How is that possible J'onn?_ She asked internally.

 _I don't know, either he is protected by that mask, or he isn't really in the room._

 _Like a hologram?_

 _Possibly Alex, I wouldn't like to bet either way._ J'onn thought quickly, as he realised the man was moving towards the tables. His footsteps were quiet, but audible.

 _Not a hologram. Stop thinking J'onn. You're still weak, I can hear your normal thoughts. We can't risk him finding out we're conversing._ Alex's voice rang in his head with an urgency and fear that he felt himself. Using the meditation techniques that he had learnt on Mars he shut down all of his mind except his senses and subconscious actions, like breathing for example, so that he could think more about this later.

As the man stepped into the light J'onn could see that he wore a black mask, with the face of a leering skull, and an apron worn over a tailored white suit. He kept walking until he reached the gunnery that Mon-El was strapped to and he pulled it with him. Kara shouted for him to take her instead, Alex threatened him, and yet, the man still walked passed impassively.

"Well, this isn't good." Said Kara, forcing a smile.

"Superman!" A deep voice cried out as the Man of Steel came crashing through the Watchtower wall at a speed almost to fast to follow. The man rushed over to his fallen friend who merely raised a thumb and sped through the gap again. Bruce smirked, trying very hard not to make it a smile. He couldn't help it, who could resist the boy scout?

Speaking of boy scouts…

"Hey Batman! Need a hand?" Greeted Captain Marvel, indicating the horde of aliens pouring through the corridor in front of them. 50 of them, twelve armed with what appeared to be a kind of energy axe. Easy.

"No, go find Lantern. We need to stop these dropships!" He ordered Marvel, shouting but without anger. Billy moved to obey, but then paused.

"Which Lantern?" The Gordonians were nearly on them.

"Literally any of them Marvel!" He snapped, the hesitated. "Actually, any of them except Gardener." Marvel smiled and flew in the opposite direction.

This Gordonian expeditionary force was nothing much to worry about, Bruce had moved the Watchtower as soon as they had appeared coming in behind Neptune, essentially taking the Justice League's fortress with them to make this a whole lot easier. He dispatched the fighters in front of him and took a respite before moving off to help Diana who had just radioed him from the Monitor Womb. She could cope, she had said, but regrouping was always tactically advisable in situations like this. Bruce had laughed aloud at that, making some of the aliens falter in their steps, she was far too proud to ask for help. He burst through the door and threw a Batarang at the Gordonian about to strike Wonder Woman in the back of the head. She saw him and waved, striking an attacker with her sword in the process. There was no way that was an accident, he decided, that was simply too lucky. Again, he fought off a smile.

The League moped up the remainder of Gordonians, and their Capital Ship, and turned the Watchtower for home. As Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman stood on the balcony in the atmospheric shell of the League's garden, which somehow had avoided damage, a horrible thought occurred to Batman.

"We have a treaty with the Gordonians, if they were going to break it they would have sent an armada. There's something wrong here." He frowned, Clark's eyes widened in surprise and worry and Diana stiffened. They could all feel it then.

"Clark. Is it possible that the mind of the Admiral responsible for this was being controlled at long range from earth by a powerful enough telepath?" Diana asked, good question. There was a pregnant pause before Clark replied hesitantly.

"In theory, with a strong enough conduit, and a powerful enough telepath, yes it is possible." He looked worried, frightened even, now.

"Someone's trying to keep us away from Earth."

"Nightwing and I will enter from the skylight. Red Robin, Robin, you two take the rear doors. Red Hood, Batwing, keep our exit route open and follow them in, don't engage the main body, take out any snipers. I'm not liking this. Bane doesn't usually pull all of his men into one building, no matter the size of it." Batgirl ordered, Nightwing raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him a bat-glare and he just smirked. Her glare could normally kill a man from twenty paces (or so Tim joked) but living with the man who invented the bat-glare would grant you immunity, she supposed. He didn't comment on the fact that she had taken charge without instruction from Batman before he left with the League, but she had a feeling that he found it somewhat amusing that his girlfriend was being a mini-Batman.

She'd been tracking Bane and his gang with the help of her new Oracle, Felicity Smoak, for about a week now. It was crunch time, but as she had mentioned to her team this was uncharacteristic behaviour of him. There was something bigger going on, something that Oracle and the Bat-clan were being very carefully distracted from, she didn't like the thought of that. Nightwing nodded at her, then the skylight, she cleared her head and activate her HUD which she'd programed, modelled after Bruce's 'Detective Vision' but set up to her tastes, the 'Oracle's Foresight', tracked any possible threats in the room and alerted her to the quickest way to defeat un-engaged opponents, in descending order of threat to first her team, then herself.

Even with the help of five incredibly skilled fighters, her gadgets and her Cowl's computer it still took the Bat's an hour and a half to clean the building and capture Bane and his thugs. They were exhausted and injured, she ordered them all back to the Batcave whilst she jumped on her bike and sped off towards the GCPD precinct. She had to speak to her dad.

The bike journey took about fifteen minutes longer than normal on account of Barbara having to stop four muggings and an attempted murder. She turned on her voice modulator as she slipped unseen into her father's office.

"Commissioner." She couldn't help but grin as he jumped out of his skin from in front of her.

"Damn it Batman… uh… I mean Batgirl." He was flustered and somewhat embarrassed, she wasn't sure if it was latent misogyny from the 60's or if he just felt bad about calling her Batman, quite frankly she didn't want to unpack that too much. "What do you need, and, no offence, where _is_ Batman?" She scowled.

"Batman is off-world at the moment, he left me in charge" admittedly, not entirely true, "and I need any reports you have of unusual activity in any large cities outside of Gotham. Oracle could get the information, but it would take time we might not have. I know the GCPD keeps dossiers on all major threats outside of Gotham that have been recently active." She snapped. She knew there was something coming and she might not even have time to gather materials, best to get at least the basics from the cops.

There was a pause as Gordon thought about his options before realising he didn't have to. She was a Bat.

"I'll bring them up to the signal in five." He said as he turned to go down to the cold and dust archive room. He knew she had vanished without a trace or any clue that she had left, they did that the Bats. Secretly he wouldn't change it for anything.

Then, the Gotham City National bank exploded.

"Winn dude, can I talk to you for a second?" The low voice of James Olsen woke Winn from the stupor he had fallen into as he checked the readout on the phas… stun guns.

"Sure Jimmie, what's up?" He used James' nickname to defuse the tension a little, he knew that his friend hated it, and they frequently laughed about it.

"I get that you feel that you've got to prove yourself to Kara, and that you probably didn't want to ask for more help, but…" James trailed off. Winn paused, James could see that his friend wasn't sure how to proceed. At the end of the day, Winn was in charge here, by unspoken agreement, even Lena accepted it, and that meant that James wouldn't challenge him on this, but this could be very dangerous. He understood how Winn felt, hell, that was why James became Guardian. He didn't care that Kara didn't underestimate their friend and that this was all in his head, James was going to stand by Winn, he just needed to make sure he had thought this through.

"All right, could you get me the others please."

Thank God.

Five minutes later Lena, Cisco, Felicity, James and Winn were sat round the L-Corp main office, the one Lena used for board meetings. They only filled about half of the seats on the round table, and James could tell that it made Winn feel like King Arthur. He had the nerd face on. As Winn started to speak, James snapped back into the game.

"I'm going to call in the League. Supergirl and Martian Manhunter have been kidnapped. What can a bunch of nerds do against someone who can do that?" James felt his heart break a little, this was his fault. "No James, it's not because of you I'm feeling like this, it's just logical." He still felt guilty. There was silence. Absolute dead silence, Lena hadn't seen Winn defeated when his life was in danger, Cisco had only ever seen enthusiasm from his new friend and knew instinctively that this was not about bravery, but confidence.

"Winn, call in the League if you want to, but don't be down on yourself. We've accomplished a lot, we tracked Cadmus, even your Justice League couldn't do that. Kara knows that you're brilliant. You don't need to prove yourself to her." Cisco said kindly, Winn nodded, feeling a little better, James knew it still wasn't much.

"You know Winn, she mentioned you a lot when she was over with us on Earth 1. Every now and then she'd mutter about how much you'd love this or that, she cares about you, and she wouldn't want you to put yourself at risk for her if you didn't have to." Felicity chimed in. Winn took a deep breath and pulled out Cisco's trans-dimensional device.

"Calling Justice League. This is Winslow Schott Jr calling on behalf of Supergirl. Please copy." He said clearly, pressing a new, red button. Of course he'd added a Big Red Button. That was very Winn. A big red button that contacted the _Justice League_ , even James had to admit that it was kind of cool.

"You modified it, sweet!" Nerded Cisco (yep, decided James, nerded is a verb now…), and the two high fived quietly.

"Is… okay? What… her… Winn?" The signal was poor, James could just make out Superman's voice.

"She's been captured by Cadmus, along with Mon-El, Martian Manhunter and Agent Danvers. We've got their location." There was a loud sound of static and the signal cleared up. James deduced that Batman had done some tinkering in the Watchtower.

"Mr Schott. We're two weeks out from Earth even if Superman and I took a Javelin. If Cadmus has taken she hasn't got that long. I'm going to patch you through to Oracle in Gotham. We'll try to get back as soon as we can. Batman out." There was another crackle and a new voice came through.

"Winn, this is Oracle." Felicity's voice, James had _known_ he recognised it, judging by Winn's expression so had he. Earth 1's Felicity looked shocked and he smiled despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Oracle. How soon can you get a team to National City, Supergirl's been captured by Cadmus." There was a long pause.

"Winn… I'm so sorry. You're on your own. There's been a series of explosions around Gotham, it looks like Two-Face and Clayface have stopped posturing, it's war over here. I can't spare anyone." She sounded genuinely regretful, but Winn was still angry.

"So, you're going to leave her there, with those _BASTARDS_?! Thanks for nothing." He snapped hanging up. They were on their own.

"Well… This isn't good." Winn said slowly.

 **A/N: Hi guys! Sorry I haven't updated in an age (about a fortnight?) Christmas happened. This chapter was a bit of an experiment, bringing the Bats and the League into play a bit more. If you guys have any strong feelings about their involvement in the story do let me know, Winn and the Tech-Support team are going to have to face Cadmus alone, but I wasn't sure if I should write the League in a little bit more for the aftermath. I'm considering following this story up with the conspiracy organised by Cadmus being explained in the Supergirl section if anyone thinks that's a good idea. It's even got a bit of a plan! Next chapter is what we've all been waiting for (or at least I have), the battle. See you there guys. Oh yeah, as always, feedback is always very welcome.**


	5. Chapter V: Battle is joined

Chapter V: Battle is joined

 **A/N: This is the finale (but likely not the final chapter) of this fic, and as such there will be violence which may be graphic in some places, just to warn you.**

Winn had decided to wait until dark, which, as far as Cisco was concerned, was probably a good place to start. None of them had a great deal of field experience when it came to planning raids and rescue missions. Sure, he, Felicity and Winn had orchestrated them from behind a laptop, and James had actually taken part in some, but they'd never planned any. That was always Wells (ugh), or J'onn, or Oliver. So, waiting until dark seemed like a good step one.

It was a strange situation that he found himself in, he'd met Kara for no more than a couple of days, Winn for less, and he was about to run into the stronghold of a group powerful enough to _capture_ her and the other aliens at the DEO. Mind, now that he had gained a greater control over his powers in combat as Vibe he was hardly defenceless, and Winn's phas... stun guns, were pretty cool as well.

The weapons were lightweight and had a certain grace to them, the sleek lines that followed from the stock, or the grip to the nozzle that fired what essentially looked like a laser beam (Winn had confided in him that it actually looked more like a bolt of lightning naturally, but he'd engineered it so that it would "look bad-ass"). Lena too hadn't been shy in handing out body armour that she kept for herself or security guards ("I don't want anyone dying, even those who are essentially hired to die in my place"), and Cisco hoped that it would be enough to protect them from at least one stray bullet, or ray-gun (or whatever the hell those weapons were) blast.

The only person who hardly had to worry at all on that count was James Olsen, his Guardian suit was really cool. Ray Palmer would be jealous, Cisco had thought to himself when he'd seen the extent of its abilities. He'd have to pitch the shield to him when they got back to Earth One.

The plan itself was simple, Guardian and himself would provide a distraction, attacking the main doors head on with all they had. If they got in, great, if not then not to worry, it would draw out the main body of Cadmus' forces. Lena, Felicity and Winn would use the distraction to sneak in through the service hatch, climbing through about half a kilometre of ventilation shafts (mission impossible eat your heart out), before they reached the room where the kryptonite was detected. On Vasquez's signal, she'd agreed to act as their Oracle for the evening, Cisco and James attacked.

The Universe bent around Vibe's arm as he sent a squadron of guards flying back into the compound walls. Sirens blared. Chaos ensued. Dodging a strike from a beefy man who had somehow managed to come up behind Cisco, James sent an elbow into his ribs, sending him stumbling. Sensing an opportunity, Cisco fired a blast that took the injured man off of his feet and out of the game, things were looking desperate now. About twenty men with guns had taken position and opened up on the two inexperienced heroes, Vibe ducked behind Guardian and attempted to pick them off, but more kept coming.

"Whatever you're doing it's not going to be enough. There's too many of them, we need to head back to the woods and see how many we can get to chase us." James' voice came through the modulator of his suit. "When I say now, close your eyes."

Uh oh. Whenever anyone said that nothing good ever came of it.

"NOW!"

Cisco closed his eyes and heard a loud whoosh, when he opened them again the soldiers were on the ground holding their heads. The pair took the opportunity and ran into the woods, nearly tripping on low lying roots, after a worryingly short period of time they could hear the sounds of pursuit. Cisco's curiosity got the better of him as they tore through the jungle.

"What _was_ that? They're wearing military grade protective eye-ware, it should stop a flashbang!"

"Present from Winn, I can't pretend to have the first clue as to what it does, he just said to use it if I needed to get out of there in a hurry." James wasn't even panting. Bastard. It was sweet of Winn mind, he'd clearly pulled that device together in a matter of hours to keep his best friend safe. If that was all there was to their relationship that is. Cisco had noticed the concern each had about the other, it clearly went beyond the way teammates cared for one another. True, Winn felt responsible for anything that happened to James in the field, he'd made the suit that enabled him to fight crime and if it failed, leading his friend to be hurt, it was likely he wouldn't forgive himself. Cisco himself felt that from time to time, on the rare occasion that the Flash's suit didn't hold up, or he gave Barry some outdated intel. He felt terrible every single time, but even his relationship with the Flash didn't feel the same way that Winn's with Guardian did. When they finally reached a clearing, they stopped and stayed very quiet, they had no way of knowing if the others had succeeded. They must have been there around an hour when he was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of guns cocking.

"Put your hands on your heads. Don't move a muscle."

* * *

As soon as they heard James confirm the order from Vasquez they moved. Winn, Felicity and Lena swivelled out of their hiding place behind a log and fired their pistols at the two guards, protecting the hatch from exactly people like them. Winn and Felicity's shots missed their marks, leaving two slightly blackened marks on the rock by the side of the fortress. Lena however, didn't miss at all. Her first shot nailed the first guard, catching him square in the jaw, leaving him crumpling unconscious, realising that her allies had missed she'd swung her pistol around again and put a shot into the stomach of the other guard before he could even reach his weapon. Winn stared open-mouthed.

"What?! That is so unfair! You can hack, do science _and_ shoot straight. You wouldn't happen to be related to Batman, would you?" Winn asked in a sort of desperation. Lena grinned at him and explained that she _had_ received death threats most months for the last ten years, so she'd got herself some advanced self-defences classes. Fair point, he supposed.

What they hadn't realised between them however, was that Felicity Smoak was extremely claustrophobic. This was all well and good when hacking in the Arrow Cave (I swear Felicity, you need to get Oliver to call it the Quiver) but in a ventilation shaft for 500m. Less ok.

In the end, she simply hadn't been able to go any further, the tight, metallic crawlspace was just too much for her to handle. She had been visibly shaking, Winn even fancied that he could hear her heartbeat. In the end, Lena had suggested, not unkindly, that she stay behind and cover their backs. It would give them one less thing to worry about. So, that was how Lena and Winn ended up looking through a grill fighting over who was best placed to unscrew it.

"I'm in front of you Lena, there's no way on earth that you're going to be able to reach over me to get to the bolt! Just give me the screwdriver!" He whispered exasperated.

"You haven't got the space to move your arms Winn. Not to mention the lack of upper body strength." Touché.

Eventually they ended up with Winn pressed against the side of the shaft, with Lena's arms unscrewing the four vaults that allowed the thick Cast Iron grill to lock shut. The loud pop that they heard when the grill came out would normally be satisfying, but they both froze for a moment. A tall man in a dark mask walked into the room, clearly, he'd heard something. Shit.

"There doesn't appear to be anyone here, but I can feel your minds." His voice was deep and smooth, under other circumstances it would have been quite hot. "You must have heard of me. The Black Mask of Gotham. You know I'm going to find you, I can sense your thoughts..."

Winn froze, he _had_ heard of Black Mask, and by the sounds of it the rumours that he could read minds, and under the right circumstances control them, were true. He filed away that information under panic later and looked at Lena. She nodded towards Black Mask and motioned towards the pistol in Winn's holster. There was no way that she would be able to shoot from that position. She gave him a pointed look.

Nope.

No.

Hell no!

He couldn't shoot straight even when he had time to think, and didn't have to worry about getting brutally murdered, or mind controlled. He shook his head.

She nodded. _You can do this._

He thought of his best friend trapped inside this hell-hole, he thought about his other best friend risking his life to cover them at the front entrance. He thought about the way that Felicity and Cisco had looked to him for answers. In the end, there wasn't any choice to make.

He silently pulled the cold weapon from the holster, and shifted so that he was looking down the sight. He pulled the dial to stun and aimed at Black Mask's black mask. Breath. Pull the trigger.

There was a low zip as the beam shot out of the nozzle of the pistol and the world slowed down. Black Mask turned to face them as the blue light whizzed across the room.

Then Black Mask collapsed.

He'd done it. He'd actually hit something. Literally for the first time ever.

Lena high fived him, both of them beaming.

"Let's go and get our friends back." She said as she pulled the grate next to her and slid out of the shaft. Winn followed.

They were in what looked like an operating room, a table lay before them, slightly off to their right, its hard metal glinting under almost industrial looking red sun lamps. Red sun lamps. This was an operating room for a Kryptonian or a Daxamite. Lena came to the realisation at almost the same time as he did.

"We have to get moving." His voice was hard, the anger welling in his throat. What was Cadmus planning to _do_ to them?! They opened the sturdy door, which squealed in complaint, and went out into the bright corridor. It was an antiseptic white, they were in some kind of hospital wing.

With unspoken agreement, they covered one another with their weapons as they checked each room, working their way towards the Blast door at the opposite end of the corridor. They were all empty, just one left to check.

Lena burst through, and Winn covered her left side. The door crashed and they heard a shout.

"Hey! Don't shoot!" Lena span, arm raised until Winn realised whose voice it was and touched her arm. Mon-El.

"Where are the others Mon?" Winn asked as he undid the straps that bound the Daxamite, the two men smiled, relieved to see one another.

"Through the door with the lead lining on the right." He sounded weak, the combination of Kryptonite and red sun energy had depleted his strength. Lena watched as he stumbled upon getting off the table.

"There's a ventilation shaft two doors down on the left, follow it and you'll find a blonde called Felicity Smoak, she'll look after you." She told him, it was clear what she meant and he wasn't happy.

"I'm coming with you." He said simply. Damn his stubbornness, thought Winn.

"Lena's right dude, you can hardly stand, please go out and get safe. We need someone to rescue us if this all goes bad anyhow."

Lena gave him a look. He shrugged smiling, there was a pause until Mon-El finally acquiesced to their advice. Winn was still apprehensive, Mon-El could have given them a distinct advantage over whatever was in the next room. Although, he had to admit that having him with them _now_ would give them a distinct _dis_ advantage.

"You're doing the right thing Winn, I hope you know that whatever happens in there I won't regret trusting you even for a second." Lena told him, she sounded a little as if she was saying goodbye. Even so, the words warmed his heart and he wrapped her into a hug, she laughed.

"Time and a place."

He laughed as well. Then, serious again in less than a moment, the two faced the door. Lena kicked it with all her might and the door swung open, this one was silent. The pair only had a second to dive for cover when a hail of gunfire came from the guard stationed on a raised platform above a circle of metal cots. Winn twirled behind the side of the door, only putting his head round to pop off a couple of shots. Lena couldn't help him, she was on the wrong side and would have to make herself a target to get a shot off.

"Winn! Breathe, then shoot." Alex's voice. They were still alive.

He took a breath, relaxed, and fired. There was a loud clang as the man fell from the platform.

"Nice shot Agent." J'onn, he was there too.

They walked into the room and began unstrapping the three people on the table.

"Winn? Where are the DEO, did you come here all on your own?" Kara sounded shocked, and more than a little worried about his safety. He smiled, she did care.

"They're down, don't worry, I don't think anyone's dead. Besides, I wasn't quite alone." He admitted, and stepped to one side to reveal Lena Luthor.

"Lena! What are you... wait, that's kind of obvious..." Kara trailed off and Winn had to bite his tongue as Alex muttered something about hot powerful women, Kara evidently chose to ignore her as Lena laughed at Kara's gaffe.

"Of course I came for you Kara," She explained simply, "you're my best friend."

Wait, what?!

"You knew!" Winn shouted at her, panicking, had he told her? He was sure he hadn't.

"The glasses are really quite a terrible disguise you know..." She replied, a smug smile fixed firmly on her face.

"Well, I guess we can't deny it now thanks to Agent Schott." J'onn muttered, he didn't sound annoyed, thank god.

"You don't need to worry about me, I won't say a word about Supergirl's identity, or the DEO. I can also assure you that I wouldn't do anything to hurt Kara." There was a softness to her voice, a strong emotion close to the surface, Winn decided to file that away for later.

"As long as that remains the case." J'onn said, voice even. Kara however, looked worried.

"Are you angry with me?" She asked as Winn untied the straps which held her.

"Of course not. I understand entirely why you didn't tell me, don't worry, we're still friends."

It took about five minutes too long to get them all through the tunnels, which is to say that it took them five minutes. When they got out onto the other side they found Mon-El trying to chat up a very unimpressed Felicity. Needless to say, she was delighted to see them.

"Vasquez, we've got them." Winn said into the comm once they were clear of the facility. She congratulated him and asked them to describe any injuries. Mon-El had a scar on his stomach, presumably from some kind of surgery, which he couldn't remember for the life of him. Apart from that, all superficial injuries.

Vasquez called on the comm. Winn noted with mounting apprehension that it was marked as urgent. J'onn answered.

"What is it?" He was alert. Director mode activate, thought Winn.

"I've managed to find Guardian and Vibe on our satellites," he's still alive, thank god, "but there's a group of Cadmus soldiers headed for them, I can't raise them on the Comm, Winn's scrambling device worked a little too well. There's too many of them, Supergirl, Manhunter, take whoever you can and get over there now!" She sounded tense. Winn's heart sank. He might have just killed James. Not directly sure, but they would have had a chance at least. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. He'd known intellectually coming into this that someone might die, but he had never even considered that it might be James. It hadn't felt real. Now it did.

"Kara, take me with you." It wasn't a request, she opened her mouth to argue but closed it when she saw the desperation etched onto his face.

"I'm coming too." Lena. Winn looked at her in thanks and she caught his eye and nodded. She wasn't going to let anyone he cared about get hurt.

"Look, I can't exactly carry everyone." Supergirl said, clearly stressing the importance of time. Then, J'onn did something that Winn had never experienced first-hand. He grew several extra sets of arms and scooped up the entire team.

Damn he's cool.

Felicity looked down at her watch, tapping the speedometer icon. Mach 3. She raised her wrist to show Winn and he felt somewhat relieved, they would be at James' position in under a minute.

"Vasquez, eta on those men?" Alex asked, the answer came seconds later and confirmed that Winn's team would arrive less than two seconds after Cadmus.

The flight was still a stressful experience, Kara was holding him tighter than strictly necessary. He realised that she was trying to reassure him and he really appreciated it, but it wasn't working.

If he dies, it's my fault.

My fault.

Mine.

They touched down just behind Cadmus, the soldiers cocked their rifles. Winn drew his pistol and put it to the head of the nearest soldier.

* * *

"Put your hands on your heads. Don't move a muscle."

Cisco realised with a start that it was Winn's voice. He realised less than a second later that the Cadmus soldiers had turned, only to see the Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Mon-El, Alex Danvers, Felicity Smoak, Lena Luthor and a very angry Winn Schott aiming their various weapons at them, or in Kara and J'onn's cases, just looking at them rather menacingly.

The Cadmus lackeys made the smart choice and did as Winn said.

He came for me. That was the first thought that ran through James Olsen's head when he saw the party touch down. Something stirred in his chest, something he hadn't _really_ felt since he left Metropolis if he was honest with himself. Something he hadn't felt since Clark. Then of course, he realised how selfish he was thinking about this now, Winn had managed to rescue Kara and the others. That was the main thing. Right?

"Thanks for the save man." James tried not to let his newly realised feelings slip through, judging by the smirks on the faces of Cisco and Lena he hadn't managed it.

"I'm pretty awesome like that, just ask them." Winn indicated Kara and J'onn with a smile. Kara gave him a side hug.

"You are." She said, in what James and Winn had affectionately dubbed her 'cuddle voice' which was usually reserved for Alex, or talking about Lena, or Cat Grant. Basically, for family, or powerful women… James decided that Winn probably fell into the former category.

"Indeed, thank you Agent Schott. However, next time please wait for back up, we wouldn't want to lose you." The surprise on Winn's face was delighted. The director of the DEO didn't throw out complements like that lightly and everyone who knew him realised that. Today was a good day for Winslow Schott Jr.

He knew that he was respected, no, wanted, by everyone in his life. A certainty that he had been lacking for just about every moment of his life, and he didn't feel alone any more.

"Let's get back to the DEO, it'll do everyone good to see you all." Of course Winn would think of everyone else at a time like this. "The minivan's parked ten minutes away."

"A minivan Winn, really? You had the entire DEO vehicle pool at your disposal, not to mention whatever Lena's got stashed away, and you went with a _minivan!_ " Exclaimed Alex, who wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or amused. It was Felicity who answered for him.

"Something of a tech support tradition." Felicity grinned, shooting Cisco a look.

"Looks like team Tech Support rides again." He muttered, grinning. They'd pulled off _another_ daring rescue attempt, this time against even greater odds.

* * *

Winn was right, the return of their director and best agent (not to mention two of their resident aliens) did have a positive effect on the morale of the DEO agents. Repairs went swiftly, which made sense to Lena as she noted that there were no less than three individuals with super-strength helping out with the physical damage, and four of the greatest technical experts on any earth rebuilding the computer systems. She was also delighted with the way in which she'd been welcomed into the "Super-friends" by everyone, even Alex. If she knew that all she had to do was save the both of them from death and torture was all it took to get into her good books, then she'd have done it years ago. There was a pause after she'd said it, until unexpectedly J'onn J'onzz, the god-damn Martian Manhunter started to laugh.

Everyone looked slightly frightened. Apparently, he didn't laugh very often.

Lena supposed that Sunny Danvers and Agent Scully lacked her dry sense of humour.

She could see the way James and Winn were looking at each other, it was only a matter of time until one of them finally asked the other out on a date. She remarked as much to Felicity and was shocked at the response.

"Yeah, they're so cute… wait, isn't that a bit rich?"

"Rich?" Lena asked, she knew where this was going. She also knew that the hacker was right.

"You and Kara… you know that she likes you too right. The way she talks about you, she's like a puppy." Lena laughed, Kara and puppies did share certain attributes. She took a breath, she trusted Felicity, but she wasn't used to being open about her feelings with… well just about anybody.

"What if she doesn't." Her voice was much quieter than she would have liked, some of the vulnerability she felt bleeding through. She hated feeling vulnerable. Felicity flashed her a knowing smirk.

"She does."

 **A/N: There we have it, the finale. I'm not sure how much I like it, it's one of** _ **those**_ **chapters that are a total pain to write. I also don't know if I did justice to Winn and James' relationship. They're really cute together in the show, especially when they're talking about James becoming Guardian and I haven't seen many fics on here with them together (I think it's literally one) so I gave it a go. I also hope that the Supercorp doesn't feel to forced either. As always, constructive criticism is really appreciated. Thanks for sticking with this, I know the quality has been up and down (coursework does that to a person).**


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

Winn was the happiest he'd been for a long time. He was surrounded by people who understood him in Cisco and Felicity, and people who cared about him, in the form of just about everyone else. He'd gained the respect of bad-ass Danvers, sunny Danvers (Winn loved Cat's nickname for Kara, it was just perfect), Director Hard-ass and Lena freaking Luthor! Basically, it was turning out to be a good day all in all. Of course, there was still the worry as to what Cadmus had done to Mon El when they had him captured (that scar still hadn't healed, which Kara noted was unusual for both him and her) but that could be left to worry about for another day. He guessed that lots of things were going to change from this point onwards. His confidence had certainly improved and he realised that now might be the time to talk to James about the way he felt. Sure, it might be the end of their friendship together and their work as Guardian but he realised now that by not saying anything things would end the same way. He knew that James was ok with people not being straight, but that didn't make this any easier. Looking around Kara's apartment he realised that he wasn't the only one struggling with this dilemma. Lena Luthor.

"I'll do it if you do." Lena tells him, apparently, he was as bad at hiding it as she was. She was also putting him into a bit of a spot. He wanted Kara to be happy with Lena, they both clearly adored each other, and for them to get together tonight _he_ was going to have to put his neck on the block. Lena had an unreadable look on her face as he hesitated, perhaps she was looking to use him as an excuse for putting it off. No, he wasn't going to have that.

"You're on." He told her, trying to muster his courage. Seriously, he'd faced down the might of Cadmus, knocked unconscious an enemy that even the Goddamn Batman struggled with, yet this was the most terrifying thing that he had ever had to experience. Well. Second to forgetting Cat Grant's latte, now _that_ was frightening. Perhaps they should roll her out to stop the next alien invasion. Death by intimidation.

"Still better than the end of W _ar of the Worlds_..." He didn't realise that he'd not only said this aloud, but also, apparently, rather loudly. Judging by the way the room had gone silent and everyone was staring at him (J'onn was smirking, it always made him chuckle that the Martians died of a cold, yet he was immune to most earthly diseases).

Later, Winn would admit to pulling a Kara as he explained his thought process to the group. At the time, however, he was distracted by the look of fondness in James Olsen's eyes. He took a deep breath and walked across to him.

* * *

Lena knew he shouldn't have challenged Winn, she should have known that his care for Kara (and now herself she supposed) would override his abject fear of rejection, which, ironically, had been what had led to the arrival of the Earth One heroes in the first place. Speaking of which, Felicity and Cisco were currently arguing over how best to wire up some place they referred to as 'the lair' and as she had the expertise to help she decided she should. After the three of them had worked out that Cisco was in fact right all along, Lena had tried to strike up a conversation about Star Wars, a topic that Cisco could clearly talk all day about judging from the _Empire_ t-shirt when Felicity gave her _the look_.

"Lena, can we have a moment?"

The two walked to the kitchen and Lena prayed really hard that Kara wasn't going to listen into their conversation. Judging by the fact that she was currently in the middle of an arm wrestle with J'onn she presumed that she wasn't.

"Why are you trying to use Cisco's hopeless nerdism as a distraction, we've discussed this. At length." They had, after the conversation that Lena had with the blonde the two had spent the best part of the night at Lena's penthouse talking about Lena's feelings for Kara, and Felicity's for Oliver (which Lena found hilarious, having met this earth's Oliver Queen) and they had both agreed that Lena needed to speak to the young hero about the way she felt.

"I'm not scared." Lena retorted, too quickly.

"Uh huh..."

"I'm not." Felicity just looked at her. "Fine, I'm terrified, she's my only friend in the entire city and I can't lose her." She took a deep breath.

"First, as Winn, James and Mon El have demonstrated you're not going to lose Kara if she rejects you, secondly, she's not your only friend in National City any more, you've got Winn and James, and probably Alex and J'onn," Lena paused in thought for a moment, that was true she supposed, "and finally she's not going to reject you. Trust me."

She did trust her. She trusted Felicity Smoak when it came to people, anyone who could put up with _any_ version of Oliver Queen had to be _very_ good with people she supposed, and she knew that Kara cared about her strongly, romantically or otherwise. So, pushing the self-doubt out of her mind (Kara didn't care she was a Luthor, she actually, genuinely, didn't) and nodded. Turning towards the Kryptonian who by now had J'onn's arm pinned to the table.

* * *

"Err... James... can we have a second?" Winn asked, full of his characteristic shyness. James was delighted, this was his opportunity to talk to his friend about the way he felt. He understood after a conversation with Kara that his friendship with Clark had reached the unhealthy stage it had because he hadn't spoken to him about the massive crush he had. Kara admitted that it was probably for the best that he hadn't and that they were getting closer again now they'd had some space. She also told him to go for it, in an uncharacteristic moment of self-assurance Kara had told him that the two of them must have a very close relationship because Winn wouldn't side against Kara with almost anyone the way he had about the whole "we're Guardian" thing. James realised that she had a point, Winn's devotion for Kara was at almost the same level as Alex's (although, Winn didn't intimidate him anywhere _near_ as much as the elder Danvers did) and clearly in a siblingy way (if that was even a word).

"What did you want to talk to me about Winn?" There was a pause as the shorter man closed his eyes and took a breath.

"I... Ah what the hell... will you go out for dinner with me at some point, like a date."

Yes! He hadn't even had to ask. James leaned forwards and their lips brushed. When they pulled apart they heard a high-pitched squeal from the other room.

"KARA!" They shouted in perfect unison, both laughing and blushing.

"Sorry" she hung her head in shame, still smiling which ruined the image a bit. Ah well, they'd made the point.

"Who asked who?" Asked J'onn to his extreme surprise.

"I did." Winn replied, looking as confused as James. J'onn held out his hand and much to Winn's annoyance, and James' amusement, everybody in the room stood up and placed a five dollar note into it.

"Seriously?! Not even one of you bet on me?" J'onn gave him a look. "Ok, point, but nobody else?" James laughed aloud. He would have bet against his boyfriend as well.

Now there's a new one. My boyfriend.

* * *

There was a round of congratulations before dinner, which was wonderful as Kara was quick to point out since it had been Maggie and Alex who had cooked. Not too much later people began to leave until it was just Kara, Maggie, Alex and Lena. They'd put a crap film on and at some point, Alex and Maggie appeared to have fallen asleep, and she'd made Winn a promise.

"Hey Kara, are you and Mon El together?" Doesn't hurt to check first.

"Oh, god no! Like, he's nice, but, just no." Lena let out a soft sigh of relief, Kara straightened in shock. Right, super hearing…

"Kara I… do you… you know… argh! I don't know how to ask this…" Lena started.

"Then you don't have to, yes, of course yes."

"Really?!" There was genuine shock in Lena's voice she realised. How could she feel like this? Kara wondered. She asked it aloud.

"I'm a Luthor, nobody's actually cared about me, they've either been with me to get something or they hate my guys. I know that you would never get into a relationship to use somebody, so you actually have feelings for me, it feels… new."

"I'm sorry Kara, but Lena! Why haven't you spoken to anyone about this? Or have you, sorry, I should have stayed pretending to be asleep, I can go back to that if you want?" Really Alex? Really?

"Alex!" Kara shouted indignantly leading to Maggie laughing.

"Maggie!"

"Kara, it's fine, I knew they were awake," She didn't, she was just trying to get them out of trouble. Alex looked gratefully at the CEO. "besides, she's so much like you sometimes it's actually rather funny." She had to get a dig in somewhere…

* * *

Barbara glanced over towards Bruce, he was sat at the Batcomputer in his uniform, the helmet by his side. He hadn't stopped since he'd sent her and Nightwing to pick up Black Mask from the DEO, someone had orchestrated an alien invasion and a Gotham City gang war. Not that the latter was overly difficult, but making one that wouldn't just fizzle out (and this one hadn't) was a different story. Cadmus had been pulling some strings. Black Mask's involvement alongside the powerful amplifier explained the brainwashing of the Gordonian admiral, but in itself raised more questions, Sionis hadn't appeared to have any anti-alien feelings prior to this (and Bruce would know). He was worried, and anything that worried the Batman is of itself terrifying. Perhaps it was time to send reinforcements to National City. Besides, it was time to leave Gotham. Her break up with Dick was amicable, but it had caused tensions within the Family, nobody wanted to form sides. Not only that, but down in her heart Babs realised that if it did come down to it they'd side with Dick, she hadn't been fair to him.

"Bruce, how bad is the situation with Cadmus outside of National City?" She had to be careful how she played this.

"There's a major base in Metropolis, but we don't know where. They've been taking pot-shots at Clark, but not in the same way they have at Kara. We think it's so that he's busy enough not to help her directly." He never looked away from the computer. She nodded, despite him not being able to see it.

"Does the League have the manpower to divert focus onto Cadmus?" This she knew the answer to.

"No, we're understaffed as it is. We can't spare anyone to go after a group as nebulous as Cadmus. The only Leaguers we could send wouldn't be any help, they haven't got the skillset."

"So, you need an investigator that can handle themselves in a fight, who isn't in the League." He hesitated before replying.

"Yes."

"Well I'm the logical choice, I know J'onn well, I've met Alex Danvers a few times on missions and we get on. I'm the best detective we have after you and Tim, and I'm a better fighter than Tim, considering some of the heavy hitters they've fielded in the past we're going to need a fighter."

She was met with stony silence.

"I need to get out of Gotham Bruce, not just because of Dick. I understand now why Dick became Nightwing. I always figured it was because you and he fell out and he just lied so he didn't look like a four-year-old, but I'm not sure any more. Batgirl should be more than just Batman's sidekick…"

"You're not my sidekick Barbara." Bruce cut in, he hoped she didn't feel that way, whilst Dick did feel overshadowed as Robin, his relationship with Bruce had suffered from not being treated like a partner. They'd move past that, but he'd promised to try harder.

"I know Bruce, I haven't been for years. That's the point," he understood what she meant now, " _I'm_ not a sidekick, but _Batgirl_ is. It's time for people to see what I can do away from Batman." She knew that he didn't like it. Not only was she a valuable asset to have in Gotham, he didn't like his little family leaving him, lest he couldn't get there to help on time. He was silent for a moment.

"Ok. You leave in two months, I know you're working on a new Batsuit and I want it fully operational and tested when you leave. It's also about time I updated our belts, we need some countermeasures for powered unknowns." She almost jumped for joy, not remotely surprised that he'd worked out that she was building a new suit.

"I'll call the DEO. We're going to bring the hammer down on Cadmus."

 **A/N: That's the end of Team Tech Support. I must admit, it is very different from the way that I imagined it when I started. Not only that, I plan on writing a sequel explaining what's going on with Cadmus, this will be posted in the Supergirl section as I don't plan to use Earth One characters in it. I want to thank everyone who has read, followed and favorited this story. Especially those who commented. If anyone has anything they want to say, including suggestions and constructive criticism then please do. Thank you all.**


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